"We want to make sure that the people who use our service understand the nature and extent of the requests we receive and the strict policies and processes we have in place to handle them," said Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch in a blog post.

Facebook's report details the countries that requested information about users, the number of requests received from each of those countries, the number of users or user accounts specified in those requests, and the percentage of those requests in which Facebook was required by law to disclose some data.

According to the report, Facebook -- which has more than 1.15 billion users worldwide -- responded to requests for information about nearly 38,000 users made by governments in 74 countries in the first half of 2013. More than half of those user-data requests -- 20,000 to 21,000 -- came from the United States, the company said.

Facebook provided precise numbers for all the countries listed except for the U.S., which bans companies from revealing how many times they've been ordered to turn over information about their customers. The U.S. submitted the most requests, with between 11,000 and 12,000, followed by India (3,245), the United Kingdom (1,975) and Germany (1,886). (Some individual requests sought data on more than one user.) Facebook granted 79% of the U.S.'s requests, compared to 50% for India, 68% for the U.K. and 37% for Germany, the report said.

According to Facebook's Stretch, stringent processes and practices are in place for dealing with government requests.

"We believe this process protects the data of the people who use our service, and requires governments to meet a very high legal bar with each individual request in order to receive any information about any of our users," he said. "We fight many of these requests, pushing back when we find legal deficiencies and narrowing the scope of overly broad or vague requests. When we are required to comply with a particular request, we frequently share only basic user information, such as name."

According to Facebook, requests for user data can also cover a user's length of service, credit card information, email addresses, IP addresses and the stored contents of any account, including messages, photos, videos and wall posts.

It's not clear from Facebook's report how many of the government requests were for law-enforcement purposes versus intelligence gathering. Facebook did say that the majority of the requests relate to criminal cases, such as robberies or kidnappings.

Privacy International, a charity advocacy group, weighed in on Facebook's move to promote more transparency. It said in a statement that, while reports such as Facebook's help to inform Internet users about what information governments are seeking and how often, it's the governments that need to be more transparent.

"Whereas transparency reports detail lawful access requests, we are living in a world where governments exploit over-permissive, vague and outdated laws with impunity. What is needed is a new strong legal framework that all governments must abide by," it said. "Until then, companies like Facebook are left with the burden of having to determine what information may be 'lawfully' demanded by each country, and deciding what they can or cannot release. This is too much to ask of these companies, and too great a trust to be placed in them."

Welcome to
TechWeb, the IT professional's online resource for news coverage of the
information technology industry. We know technology news. Our mobile
and wireless news coverage moves as fast as wireless technology itself.
We follow all the devices you depend on to stay connected. Our software
coverage follows the multi-faceted software industry from every angle.
We've got a lock on network security and computer security issues.
We're all over the business of the Web--the Internet business--and the
engines that run it. We have our eyes and ears tuned to the players who
make and run the tools that tie us all together--Google, Microsoft,
eBay, Cisco, Yahoo, Oracle, Apple, Sony--and scores of others. And we
keep close tabs on the backbone of information technology, PC hardware.
We know PCs and Apple computers inside and out. We cover computer
technology, computer news, software news, search engine news, business
software, operating systems, and software development. Our coverage of
tech news includes a strong focus on the security business, its
attendant spyware and viruses, how security relates to wireless
technology and business networking and the security issues surrounding
RFID technology. We closely follow developments in Internet news and
Internet technology, including the spread of broadband and its effect
on Web browsers and the Web business. We watch the VoIP business, and
how VoIP technology is affecting the state of telephony in the
enterprise. And if all that isn't enough, we also track developments in
the IT industry that affect IT jobs, IT careers, and outsourcing.